


Taken Time

by Adeline_Hatter



Series: Time [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura (Voltron)-centric, F/M, Moving On, Post S8 Fix It, Post-Canon Fix-It, Season 8 Spoilers, healing fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-10-03 17:35:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17288417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adeline_Hatter/pseuds/Adeline_Hatter
Summary: Oh, she has returned in splendor.Our Queen, our Savior.For she is not done as of yet.





	Taken Time

**Author's Note:**

> Companion Fic to 'Given Time', that doesn't need to be read for this fic to be understood, but it will clear some things up.
> 
> #JUSTICEFORALLURA
> 
> https://justice-for-allura.tumblr.com/post/181711316892/as-season-8-came-to-a-close-signifying-the-end-of

Incandescence is what there is, it’s all there is to find beyond those memories, those faces that have names… All of the faces she can recall but her own. 

 

Every time a lick of focus enters her head she loses it within a moment because that’s all there is… Light and contemplation that she tries to catch but fails every single time, she retreats into herself everytime she reaches out. 

 

There are names and faces, she can connect, she can recall feelings for each of them. 

 

She has so much love for all of them, she’s sure she cries stars as she reaches out for them, for that love and warmth, that acceptance and doesn’t catch it. 

 

She can’t touch it. 

 

But there’s so much pain- She can feel all of it, all of it and she can’t fix it, there’s Pidge finding the video game… Hunk holding those he loves dearly close to him, Shiro setting lilies on the blue lion’s paw, Lance… 

 

Lance crying. 

 

And then there was…  _ Him…  _ Another name she couldn’t recall, it frustrated her, made the pleasant warmth ebb out of her, anger filling her as she saw everything but his eyes… She needed to see him- Needed to know he was alright more than anyone else because she could  _ feel  _ him aching, crying out to no one but mourning her more deeply. 

 

Why couldn’t she remember his name? His eyes, she remembered his touch, his soft tone when he spoke to her, warned her, kept her sane… So where was his name? 

 

Where was it? 

 

….Where was hers for that matter?

* * *

  
  


Time and contemplation, it’s all she has. 

 

Another name flitters into her head,  _ Lotor,  _ a face she didn’t want to see, but she thinks about him as calmly as she can, experimentally she reaches out… 

 

Memories that don’t belong to her fill her head, of those chances… Of those faces, of the regret and anger at parents that weren’t hers, at plans that failed and the love- 

 

Love, that was a familiar word, an even more familiar feeling as she watches through eyes that aren’t her own, at the warm tingle that ignites at Acxa’s smile, at her words and tone, at the way she holds up a sword at him grinning at him dangerously. 

 

At… Another woman, later, long white hair and bright eyes, russet brown skin, looking out at wonders.

 

This face, this face is familiar but she can’t seem to find a name so she shoves these memories away, shoves that anger, that darkness that had had so many chances to be cast out but had never taken it, had still killed, slaughtered, maimed and in the end it had served no cause.

 

_ Lotor. _

 

She thinks, a funny name… It brought her heartache, but while she believed there had once been anger attached to it in her heart. 

 

But that had faded, now she just felt pity. 

 

* * *

  
  
  


She finds letters buried in her head,  _ Ks  _ and  _ As,  _ she can’t assign them to words. 

 

So she keeps contemplating, she keeps looking through realities that spread open at a simple brush of her fingers, powers and she just needs to find the right one… 

 

He needs her to find the right one.

 

* * *

  
  


_ Lance,  _ a name associated with the boy who bore Altean marks, but was Terran in make, a boy who seemed to moon over a dead woman, a woman she knows for a fact did not love him in the way he believed she had. 

 

He was a friend, that much she knew as she observed him with a black and white creature that made her nose wrinkle when she saw it. 

 

Slowly she peers at him, there’s affection in her heart for this boy… But it doesn’t match the other feeling that burns through her blood when she reaches out for the man with no name. 

 

She leaves  _ Lance  _ to his flowers, his animals, his farm and continues on.

 

* * *

  
  


Something was  _ Key,  _ that’s how it sounded in her head as she continued to dig through the many realities in front of her. 

 

Though, perhaps there is no  _ Why  _ anymore. 

 

* * *

  
  


_ Hunk,  _ she thinks that perhaps his life is her favourite, he moves forwards with heavy shoulders, that grow lighter with each step, he remembers a woman but not like Lance does, he remembers a friend who helped him believe in himself. 

 

Though there are times when it all gets too much and he clings to the two women who sit with him, who cry with him carefully, softly whispering… 

 

And he does the same, he looks at them both with so much love, equal love, as he whispers Romelle back to sleep, as Shay settles into her other side, promises of everything being fine. 

 

She watches a celebration occur, though she isn’t sure why. 

 

* * *

  
  


It’s an  _ I, Kei,  _ she’s closer. 

 

There are two  _ Ls  _ now as well. 

 

_ All.  _

 

She thinks, that maybe it’s in reference to the memories. 

  
  
  


_ Shiro,  _ she gets his name the easiest, someone she had trusted, she knows this, someone she had held onto when she was stressed,  _ Takashi Shirogane.  _

 

He was one of the saddest, he clung to his job the most, moved past her death slowly as he was mourning both her and another. 

  
But. He wasn’t alone.

 

For that she’s thankful. 

 

* * *

 

She is so close now, it hurts. 

 

She reaches out as far as she can.

 

Further, until she finds them.

 

Five, a full connection. 

 

She finds them and she pulls. 

 

* * *

  
  


_ Pidge, Katie…  _ She had names, but she preferred one now, one who gave up happiness for her, who held her close and made sure she was okay in her final days, who gave up everything she wanted in love for her… 

 

She’d never had a sister, but as she watches a young man fumble over his words in front of her, she thinks that Katie may have been close enough. 

 

_ Katie…  _ She thinks with so much happiness in her head. 

 

She deserved the world this woman. 

 

And the world she would have.

* * *

  
  


She sees them, she feels them and then she feels-

 

She gasps, grasping for him, he came for her, he came to fetch her, to sort her out and let her be free to live her life the way she wanted. 

 

He grasps for her as well, a name falling from his lips with so much care, so much soft love that she needs, she feels in her bones… 

 

_ “Allura.”  _

 

That was her name, that was her name and she loved it when he said it. 

 

So she breathes his as she meets him halfway in that plane of stars. 

 

“ _ Keith!”  _

 

* * *

  
  


When Allura opens her eyes she’s in a room she doesn’t recognise, in a bed that’s obviously slept in a lot, it smells like oil, metal tang hits her nose next and then… The scent of an old flower and she peeks out at a desk overlooking the stars, the man slumped there… 

 

The man who had come to get her…

 

“Keith…” She whispers and watches his eyebrows twitch, smiling she sits up as quietly as she can and swings her legs out from under the covers, pulling herself from the bed so she stands in the room. 

 

The floor is carpeted, so it’s easy to pad towards him, brushing his hair from his face and smiling more as his nose twitches, there are pieces of metal nearby, briefly she registers the pink and white, then… Oh, it was her armour, battered and tore apart in pieces, her flight suit sat nearby too. 

 

She realises her legs are bare in the next second and freezes, feeling the soft fabric that covers her, she isn’t naked but she wonders who undressed her. 

 

“I did.” Acxa whispers from the doorway, “I situated you with some other means of clothing, we set you down to rest in Keith’s room because no one comes in here… They’re too..” 

 

Allura laughs softly, “Scared of him?”

 

“Something like that.” She presses her lips together, “Let him sleep, he had a long ride chasing after those lions for you… I found some other clothes so you don’t have to stay in that shirt.” 

 

She beckons as she pushes off the doorway. 

 

Allura follows, throwing one fleeting look behind her at the man still slumped asleep at his desk and… 

 

_ She’s alive, so is he.  _

 

* * *

  
  


The uniform is snug but she doesn’t dislike it, she looks in the mirror as she tucks her hair up into a bun… Before letting it unravel again, it just didn’t feel right anymore, the Blade of Mamora don’t seem surprised to see her. 

 

In fact, they welcome her, Acxa left her in a room filled with uniforms and two small Blades walked her through the racks and led her to her size. 

They mutter and chat in Galran, she catches the odd word but she’s rusty, thought one sentence she does recognise. 

 

She’s called “The Queen” by them a few times before they switch into English for her to explain how putting the uniform on worked and she changes. 

 

Allura brushes her hair over her shoulders again, then wanders back to Keith’s room to see if he’s woken up, she waves to Acxa in the briefing room, she’s well aware that there are a lot less Blades then she would assume running around, wandering… She wonders if the numbers have been made smaller briefly as she walks head first into Krolia. 

 

A warm smile greets her when she looks up as she’s softly brought into a hug, “I am pleased you have returned my Queen.” 

 

“Why is everyone calling me that?” She asks, there’s so much respect in Krolia’s tone and she watches the woman blink carefully, “The blades who helped me find a uniform called me a Queen too.” 

 

Krolia pulls away from her, running a caring hand through Allura’s hair, “Honerva is dead, Altea has returned, you are the rightful heir to the throne, Allura.”

 

“...But you are Galra, I’m not your Queen?” 

 

It’s a loving laugh as Krolia starts to lead her down the hall, “The Galra and the Alteans reached an impasse, a peaceful notion, you are one half of a pair that rules both whether they are aware or not.” There’s a secret in the smile she gives her as she tugs her softly into an office. 

 

“I remember there being more Blades than this..” She murmurs, before a cup of steaming tea is pushed into her hands, “Did something happen?”

  
A head shake as Krolia directs her into a chair, “No, we sent the lower ranked officers off on missions, we decided that discretion would be best with your return... We don’t want to cause panic.” 

 

“Who’s idea was that?” 

 

“Acxa’s.” Krolia sits in her chair, “That woman is wiser than all of us, she’s making sure you are alright and ready.” 

 

She sips the tea, “Why?”    
  
“....Because she wants to make sure the universe is ready for you Allura.” 

 

* * *

  
  


“I can help you put your hair up if you like.” She jumps from where she was peering in the mirror, turning to face Ezor as she steps towards her into Allura’s room, “I helped Acxa for awhile when her hair started to get too long again, the Blades have been teaching Zethrid and me to braid hair…” 

 

She watches the ex-general warily before she nods, once, smoothly and fingers curl into her hair, “...How did you end up here?”

 

“I realised that there wasn’t a point in being angry, then I couldn’t remember who I was angry at… Lotor? Lotor died years before being left in that rift.” Ezor began, twisting sections of Allura’s hair back away from her face, “Was I angry at Acxa for leaving? For not fighting for us to stay together? Or was I angry at Voltron?” 

 

Allura feels the slight sharp pull, “Were you?”

 

“No.” It’s cool, sharp, “I was angry at myself for believing I knew everything, Acxa came clean to us while we were stranded on that rock, that we didn’t know everything, more so than the plan to work with Haggar…” She looks at Allura in the mirror, “So when push came to shove, I realised I just couldn’t be angry anymore, I had hoped that Zethrid would follow me but..” 

 

“But she didn’t come as quickly as you thought?” 

 

“Ancients, no.” A short breathy laugh as she spins the strands of hair together, “My Zeth is stubborn you know? Won’t let anything move her until she’s completely proven wrong… But we’re here now.” 

 

Allura watches as all of her hair is secured, “Helping people?” 

 

“Your majesty, we are continuing your legacy.”  _ Your majesty,  _ it invokes pictures of her Father, of hearing that at his side as a child.

 

“My… Legacy?”

 

* * *

  
  


“We rehoused Olkarion survivors on an uninhabited planet in the Dalterion Belt.” The star chart swirls in front of her, green, “Altean colonists are helping them settle there, for the time being, then there are the Arusians-”    
  
She can’t help it, “Something happened to Arus??”   
  
Acxa jumps, turning to her from where she’s controlling the charts to show Allura just what’s been going on, “No, they’re assisting in rebuilding the Captial for the Galactic Coalition.” 

Relief enters her, they’re okay, they’re good, “What of… What of Earth?”    
  
“Earth houses the largest teleduv, the most advanced space travel vessels and thrives under the watchful eye of the Holts.” Krolia replies from her side, her arms crossed but her face soft by all accounts, “A lot of the Olkari settled there to assist them a few months ago, Katie is technically a Princess to them…” 

 

Hearing the name brings warmth to Allura’s chest, “How is Pidge?” 

 

“She goes by Katie now, Dr.Katie Holt, Queen of Space Travel.” She almost jumps at his voice as he walks up to stand next to her, Keith shoots her a smile, “She’s still stubborn by all accounts, we talked a few days ago…” 

 

Allura smiles up at him, “Is she well?”

 

“As can be expected, everyone but… Everyone is well.” She knows already, who isn’t well enough alone these days, but refuses to acknowledge that he’s not okay, “Would you like to see them?”

 

She blinks, “You haven’t told them already?”

 

He rubs the back of his neck, “Telling them or not is your call, my Queen.” 

 

It’s the way he drawls it, in that softly southern accented way of his, she fights the hitch in her breath.

 

“...It can wait, for now, tell me more about the Blade of Mamora’s assistance to the Universe.” 

 

“As you wish.” 

 

They miss the look shared between Acxa and Krolia.

 

* * *

  
  


_ As You Wish  _

 

A sentence she hears a lot, sometimes in a serious tone, sometimes joking as she dons a mask and pretends to fall in line with the other Blades. 

 

_ As You Wish.  _

 

He says it when she tiptoes back to his room during the night cycles on board the  _ Fala,  _ unable to sleep in her own assigned room, unable to be alone for a moment now, everytime she meets him at his door he invites her in, settling himself down on a sofa pressed up against the wall. 

 

_ As You Wish  _

 

He says it so quietly on a mission, as she hands him another crate of supplies with a comment about how she’d love to take a bath after all of this. 

 

_ As You Wish,  _ it feels like a promise, like he’s using those words to hide another sentence that he can’t bring himself to say, afraid of something. 

 

For three months it is the same, he asks her what she wants to do, says  _ My Queen  _ in his accent, in his tone, so carefully, but yet holding back in the way he does so. 

 

She busies herself with the Blades of Mamora, losing herself in the relief missions to deliver supplies or scoop up some lost refugees, she passes for the ‘Blades’ never actually carry the weapon unless they are in charge. 

 

She scoops her hair up into braids, braid crowns, ponytails, pigtails, never a bun. Never again. 

 

When she can’t sleep, even in his presence she lets him unravel her hair, running his fingers through it as he teases it into complicated braids that she doesn’t know the names of but he says are popular on Earth. 

 

She spins when he gives her a fishtail braid, loving the pattern and how it feels against her head. 

 

The  _ Fala  _ was the evermoving home base for the Blades now, swimming across the universe to help those who couldn’t help themselves, protecting those that needed it, making sure there was peace in every corner without the use of dictatorship or mind control. 

 

It makes her nervous because it’s everything she’s ever wanted. 

 

...Almost everything. 

 

* * *

  
  


“Katie is dating James.” Keith reports, nearly three years after her return, “...And I slipped up.” 

 

She pauses in typing up a report, “How so?”

 

“She was teasing me and your name slipped out, have no idea if I covered for it well enough or not.” He continues flipping through someone’s obviously halfhearted report about a different mission, probably not enjoying the paperwork as much as she, herself did, “But… I thought this may be a good time to bring it up again.” 

 

Allura leans back against his back, “I want to tell Coran.” She sighs, shutting her laptop, “It’s long overdue and he still thinks I’m dead, it’s unfair for me to pretend that, to him… He spent so many years protecting me and…” 

 

“Allura.” She falls backwards when he moves, but he catches her in a fluid moment, propping her upright, then taking her face in his hands, brushing her cheeks- Oh, she’s crying, “We can go to Altea in the morning.” 

 

This man… This beautiful man, who took her face in his hands with soft and gentle care, who looked at her like she were the stars in the sky, “Keith?”

 

“Yeah?”   
  
“How are  _ you  _ feeling?” He seems surprised for all but a moment as he rests her forehead against his.

 

She has no name for what they are, she knows it’s otherworldly from what she had with Lance before her Death, Lotor didn’t even factor into this… Because she cares about what Keith feels, how he feels about anything and everything. 

 

“How I’m feeling? ‘Lura, I’m grand.” 

 

All the nervous jitters that existed in her being are snuffed out by that simple sentence. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


She takes a deep breath, then takes a step off the  _ Fala  _ onto the surface of the planet, Keith is leading the way and she wonders why she waited so long to come back. 

 

_ Altea  _ thrives around her, a nearly completed Castle of Lions sores towards the sky and she resists the urge to run off into the Juniberry fields, resists the urge to scream and yell in happiness, her planet has returned and sits in one piece in front of her.

 

The mask from the Blade uniform inhibits her full view of the planet, she wants to take it off but a hand comes and tugs her into motion, Keith squeezes her hand and she lets herself get pulled along towards that castle. 

 

Though she stops dead when she sees it.

 

Keith had told her about it, she’d known it was there but… 

 

Allura stares up at her own face and remembers all at once that she had  _ died.  _

 

* * *

 

When she sees him her whole being shakes.

 

The tears come into her eyes so fast as Keith speaks to him, it’s just them and her as others file out the room and the moment the door shuts behind the last one she’s running. 

 

Allura ditches the mask halfway there and throws her arms around Coran, who seems in shock for a moment before slowly they both seep to the ground and her hug is returned with much more force. 

 

“How is… How is this possible? Allura, are you really-” He pulls back from the hug to look at her, at her tears and her face, “...Allura.” Coran breathes and scoops her up in a much stronger hug than before, “I thought I’d lost you- I promised to protect you and I failed-” 

 

“You didn’t fail!” She promises squeezing him tighter, “You didn’t fail Coran… You didn’t…” 

 

They both collapse into a sobbing pile. 

 

* * *

  
  
  


“The lions came to fetch me.” She begins upon the question of  _ How,  _ Allura is settled in front of the fireplace in the private quarters of a room she remembers in the original castle as being her Mother’s sanctuary, “They swapped their quintessence for mine, we actually have what remains locked up on the  _ Fala.”  _

 

The empty metal husks that could still function as ships… But nothing more, Coran nods quietly, “So, you are truly alive?”

 

“Yes, I don’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon.” She smiles, “I’m sorry I didn’t come and tell you sooner, there was just…” 

 

“The Lance of the matter.” He replies, offering her a biscuit, she takes one and bites into it, feeling like she’s a child again curled up on the settee, “He’s not doing well, he’s enclosed in on himself-” 

 

Allura interrupts him, she can’t help it when she does so, because she doesn’t want to hear about Lance, “Who cares about that right now Coran?”

 

There is a little surprise in his face, “You shared a relationship with Lance before your first departure, I thought that perhaps you wanted to hear about how he was doing…” 

 

“I’ve heard it all from Keith, a little from Krolia, but I understand one thing, Coran.” She speaks plainly, sipping her tea and looking into the fireplace, “I love Lance, but not in the way he wanted, not in the way I let him think…. Because that was easy.” 

 

Coran says nothing as everything goes still. 

 

“I don’t want  _ easy  _ anymore.” 

 

There’s a moment of silence as he starts to laugh, “You know you’re Mother said the same thing? Before she went and proposed to Alfor herself.” 

 

“...Mother truly did that?” She asks a little wonderment in her voice she realises, “She was always so…” 

 

He’s still laughing, “Prim and proper? Trust me, when we were younger Mel was the wild card.” 

 

“Coran?” 

 

“Yes?” 

 

“Tell me more.” She settles herself up in the pillows. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


It’s bittersweet as she leaves because she can’t stay, there’s too much for her to do out in the stars.

 

When she looks over the sunset covered fields and houses she takes a deep breath, but in a fluid moment, Allura realises that Altea, with its green sun stretched fields, the arching castle, the juniberry fields and mountains…

 

Simply doesn’t feel as much like  _ Home  _ when she first lost it, it’s still familiar and she feels nothing but comfort as she looks over it all, her Kingdom… 

 

And it was, she realised with a start. 

 

It was  _ Her Kingdom.  _

* * *

  
  
  


The box is made of Velvet, the royal blue hue once popular on Altea, it’s the same size as her head and she already knows without looking at what exactly is inside of it.

She runs a hand over it, feeling the plush fabric and she sighs because it’s  _ hers.  _

 

A hand covers hers gingerly, slowly and helps her ease the box lid open, pale porcelain against russet, then they move together to trace the gold creeping up the band, at the small crystals woven into it. 

 

Juniberry flowers made of Balmeran Crystals and gold curling around them as the pale porcelain hands pick up the crown from the box. 

 

And smoothly slides it into place on her head.

 

Keith lifts her hand to his lips and presses a kiss to the back of it as he swoops her around to face the mirror. 

 

“My Queen.” He whispers into her skin. 

 

* * *

  
  


She decides to do something on the third anniversary since her return, Keith has left to meet up with the rest of her Paladins in a yearly tradition he’d told her, that none of them could get out of.

 

It’s days like these that the  _ Fala  _ falls under her control, her leadership overruling others, she wants to know why a lot of the time, but the Blades look at her like she’s holding all of the respect in the room.

 

Sleep evades more when he’s not with her, or when everything falls still and silent the nightmares come, that feeling of helplessness she’d felt when she lived amongst the stars and prayed for something to come for her.

 

The screams of people around her, those she woke up to with sweat clinging to her, clammy and cold. 

 

She’d long foregone keeping a room of her own, she co-existed in Keith’s with him, her books mixed up with his, her dresses pressed amongst shirts and leather jackets, they’re uniforms folded neatly, ready to be worn when they were on duty.

 

Allura does the paperwork, the reports, she helps people throughout the universe, she loves they’re smiling faces when she sits before them and hears stories that are even older than her. 

 

She decides on something by the time he gets back from seeing them.

 

“Next year.” She begins quietly, alone staring up at their ceiling, her hair spread across the pillows as she looks up at them, “Next year I’ll see them again.” 

  
  


* * *

  
  


It’s absurd that she’s been with Keith here for three years and never once  _ kissed  _ him, an idea that she decides is worth fixing when she sees him walk onto the bridge in his uniform, brushes her hand with his fingers as he passes and starts pulling up the specs on the last few relief missions.

  
She walks over and joins him, pointedly taking his hand and moving it to the spots on the star chart that are new and that he should see before anyone else says anything. 

 

Keith provides no resistance, though he raises an eyebrow at her with each touch she initiates, she’d not going to hide what she wants and he gets that. 

 

What she doesn’t expect is for his eyes to slide around the bridge, at everyone and she does the same, they both seem to reach the same conclusion at the same moment. 

 

Because she leans upwards and he captures her lips for a few seconds, pleasant soft warmth, light pressure before he pulls away again, hiding his eyes in his hair and she feels like she’s a teenager all over again. 

 

They’re both blushing, which is a bit ridiculous considering they’ve been sharing a bed and a room for a while by this time. 

 

She hooks their fingers together without much more hesitation on her part. 

 

* * *

  
  


Neither of them can stop laughing, fumbling kisses across her brows, she presses one to his collarbone as he leans himself back into their pillows, looking up at her all soft smiled. 

 

She giggles again when his fingers attack her sides, and she collapses, “Stop it!” 

 

“It’s an interesting discovery why should I-” Another laugh rakes through him as she attacks him right back, running her fingers over his sides until she can’t breathe and he’s quite the same, “I like making you squeal…” He gets out and they both stop completely.

 

His face goes red, “Um-” 

 

“Then make me squeal.” Allura states it, leaning forwards to straddle him properly, wrap her arms around his neck and look at him levelly, his face goes even redder and she realises with a pleasant thrill up her spine that she’s making him flustered, “You have my permission you know.” 

 

Keith splutters slightly, “You sure?” 

 

“Completely.” She whispers and kisses him.

 

It takes no time whatsoever for him to respond, for him to lean and push back as he comes to cradle her left cheek with one hand, while the other pulls the low ponytail out of her hair. 

 

Before he pulls away, she almost whines at the loss of contact before his hand grips her thigh and he flips them over, so it’s her pressed into the pillows.

 

He presses a single lingering kiss on her lips, then starts out with a kiss on the corner of her mouth, trailing down her neck, then her collarbone, then down… Down… 

 

_ “Keith.”  _ She sighs. 

 

* * *

  
  
  


“ _ Allura?”  _

 

It’s a soft gasp, then a hitched breath, wide amber eyes staring at Allura like twin suns and she walks towards the woman sat in the co-pilot’s chair of the Whips, her footsteps light.

 

“ _ How-  _ When?” Pidge- No,  _ Katie,  _ she remembers briefly, demands immediately, “You died-” 

 

“I came back.” There are tears brimming in both of they’re eyes, “The Lions came and traded themselves for me.” 

 

Katie’s lips quiver as she shoves blue sunglasses up into her hair, “We should have used Voltron to close the rifts in the first place, it was so stupid that you had to-” She’s crying and Allura finds that she can’t hold hers back either as she rushes forwards and collects Pidge up in a hug.

 

They’re both crying as they collapse on the floor, Katie is holding her so tightly and Allura is holding on just as tight.

 

“Get over here!” Katie yells at Keith, who laughs as he pushes himself out of his pilot’s chair, “I’m mad at you for not telling me but fuck it come here, you motherfuckers! Both of you! I hate you so much.”

 

Allura just hugs her tighter, “No you don’t.” 

 

“I really don’t, how the fuck could I hate you Allura?”

  
  


* * *

  
  


She watches Hunk drop the ceramic cooking casserole pot when he sees her, watches him yell through the window as Keith follows her up the path to the cottage surrounded by the prettiest garden she’s ever seen.

 

They don’t even get to the door before it’s being pulled open and Allura finds herself scooped up in a bone-crushing hug by three people, it’s the usual barrel of questions, but it’s mostly crying. 

 

She looks back at Keith who’s arms are crossed and he’s smiling at them all while she lets herself get crushed. 

 

“I missed you all.” 

 

There are two small heads of dark curls that stick their heads around the door frame, Hunk standing up properly, “Sky, Baron, come meet your Aunt Allura.” 

 

Allura looks at them and remembers, “Hello.” She greets. 

 

They both run up to her, small and energetic, “Hello.” Sky greets her right back, while who she assumes is Baron hides behind his sister.

 

* * *

  
  


“Welcome to the ‘I died but not really.’ Club.” Shiro greets, wrapping her up in a  hug, “I wondered what Keith was hiding, turns out it was the Queen of a whole coalition.” 

 

She laughs and returns the hug, “Technically speaking, he’s the Prince Consort of that Coalition.” 

 

“You got marri-” 

 

“No!” Allura practically yells, she can feel her face grow hot, “I mean, that would be nice but- We aren’t… We’re not married, we’re together but we aren’t married.” 

 

Shiro squints at her, “Yet?” 

 

“....Yet…” She tucks a loose strain of her hair back behind her ears, “Speaking of married, I heard you got married too, though I see that didn’t keep you away from Space for long.” 

 

He laughs, “Nah, I handed the ATLAs helmship over to a younger officer awhile ago, he’s doing a good job, I’m back to teaching cadets how to pilot and adopting anyone who steals my car.” 

 

“Is that how you met Keith? I’ve never heard the story.” 

 

“No, it’s how I decided to pull strings and get him into the Garrison… I guess that’s just the path the universe wanted him on.” Shiro smiles widely at her, “It’s the path that led him to you.” 

 

She smiles, feeling warmth glow in her chest, “You seem happy Shiro.” 

 

“I am happy, you are too by the looks of it…” He looks behind her where Keith is talking to James Griffin, “You have my permission to ask Keith to marry you by the way.” 

 

“WHAT?!” Her yell draws the attention of everyone in the room. 

 

She glances helplessly at Keith who presses his lips together and tries not to laugh. 

 

“I hate everyone.” 

 

“No, you don’t.” 

  
  


* * *

  
  


She slides the pin into Katie’s hair, the bun suiting her while Nadia wove the small veil into the back of it. 

 

“You look beautiful.” Allura tells her, swooping the soft fabric over so it lies straight on Katie’s back, brushing the open back of her dress, “I’m so proud of you.” 

 

Katie laughs, “You are the third person to tell me that today you know?”

 

“It’s well deserved, I’m glad I get to be here.” 

 

“I’m glad your here too.” 

 

Allura places her hands on Katie’s bare shoulders and meets her eyes in the mirror, “James Griffin hurts you once and I will kill him without hesitation.” 

 

“Thank you, Allura.” Katie laughs again, brushing the curl of her hair out of her face again slightly, “But that’s not nessacery.” 

 

She leans forward and wraps the bride in a hug, “It completely is.” 

 

* * *

 

She sits in the crowd, the third row with Keith’s hand in hers, placed against the soft pink fabric of a dress she adored.

 

Allura watches Katie as she excitedly recites her vows, as James does the same, watches them exchange rings.

 

Stands and cheers when the ceremony is over and Katie launches herself upwards to catch her husband’s lips in hers without hesitation.

 

It is a moment of newness, a beginning to something wonderful, she can sense it.

 

A day where everyone you care about should be present, yet there is a face missing from the crowd of people. 

 

She finds that she doesn’t actually care that he’s missing in this, the happiest moment of Katie’s life. 

 

* * *

  
  


He leads her around the dance floor with ease, occasionally Allura glances to where Katie is being held by her husband in a soft sway to the old music played by the band. 

 

She leans her head against Keith’s chest, “You ever think about this?” He asks her quietly and she nods, “Me too.”

 

“You want to marry me?” She asks so softly it scares her, pulls back to look in his eyes as they continue to sway themselves. 

 

Keith brushes the softest of kisses to her forehead, “Yes, even if it takes all the time in the universe.” 

 

“I have nothing but time Keith.” 

 

He smiles at her, warmth seeps through her bones, “I know ‘Lura.” 

 

They turn slowly in time with the music, “As you wish.” She whispers and he stops.

 

“What?” 

 

“As you wish.” She repeats, leaning up and pressing a kiss to his cheek. 

 

* * *

  
  
  


There’s something she has to do, she knows that.

 

It’s why she walks across the field filled with Juniberries, on a planet they do not belong, why she doesn’t smile when he spots her.

 

Doesn’t return the gasp, the admittance as he starts to run towards her but she doesn’t change her pace, doesn’t change her facial expression.

 

He stops in front of her, about to say her name when she stops him by putting her hands on his cheeks.

 

She swoops her fingers over the marks there, watches his face as he realises that something’s wrong. 

 

“You aren’t her.” 

 

“No.” Allura stated plainly, “I’m not her, I’m  _ me.”  _

 

_ “What-” _

 

Allura looks at him, “I didn’t love you like you wanted Lance, the Allura you loved was a fake mask because I was looking for comfort in the wrong place because I wanted something easy.” 

 

“I don’t understand.” 

 

She swoops her thumbs back over the marks and watches them disappear, “I don’t want easy anymore Lance and… I found who I truly care for.” 

 

Lance looks at her like she’s not real, “It’s me isn’t it?”

 

“No.” Allura breathes, “It’s not.” 

 

She walks away, she leaves him standing alone in that field and she takes the Altean marks she gave him with her. 

 

“Maybe now!” She calls out, she doesn’t look at him, “You’ll move on!” 

 

* * *

  
  


_ “ _ What about… Rika for a girl?” She asks cradling his face, legs were thrown over the side of the bed, “We could name a boy after our Fathers.” 

 

Keith hums as he idly plays with the ends of her hair, “I like it, sharp on the tongue.” 

 

“If she’s our daughter…” Allura ponders, “She’ll have the sharpest tongue in the entire Universe.” 

 

He laughs, shaking her hands off his face and seals a kiss across her lips, “We’re going to cultivate that talent aren’t me?”

 

“But of course, she’ll take the throne of Altean and the coalition, she’ll need to know how to deal with that.” She smiles and pulls him closer to her, facing him properly, “Rika Mel Krolia Kogane… I like it.” 

 

He rests his head in the crook of her neck, “I like it too… We have such a future to look forwards to Allura.”

 

“Such a future.” She agrees, running her hands through his hair.

 

A future she’d been given and had taken the time to acquire.

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> #JUSTICEFORALLURA 
> 
> https://justice-for-allura.tumblr.com/post/181711316892/as-season-8-came-to-a-close-signifying-the-end-of


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